ProlimaTech Super Mega Heatsink Cooler Review

ProlimaTech, the company behind the award-winning and record-setting Megahalems heatsink, has released a successor to the overclocking throne: the ProlimaTech Super-Mega heatsink cooler for Intel CPUs. The Megahalems was ProlimaTech's first run at CPU-cooler's, and a very successful one at that. Having already earned the Benchmark Reviews Editor's Choice Award and countless accolades from other websites, ProlimaTech has built high expectations with their follow-up products. The Super Mega is ProlimaTech's plan to remain seated comfortably at the top. In this article, Benchmark Reviews examines the ProlimaTech Super Mega heatsink and compares performance results directly against the original Megahalems design.

When it comes down to it, those consumers shopping for aftermarket cooling products only want one thing out of them: the very best cooling performance their money can buy. It makes perfect sense, too. Since so many products flood the market, it all comes down to price and performance. Based on this principle, Benchmark Reviews searches out the latest CPU coolers and tests them under real-world overclocked conditions. Want to know which cooling products stand-out? Watch for the ProlimaTech Super-Mega to be included in the upcoming quarterly update to our Best CPU Cooler Performance series.

The ProlimaTech Super-Mega uses a very dense array of aluminum and copper fins which are split down the middle to form two separate heatsink halves. The Super-Mega heatsink is comprised of six heat-pipe rods, which span to each side and offer twelve total cooling ends. The nickel-plated copper base secures firmly to the CPU with a new and improved proprietary mounting clip system. This mounting system, which I am pleased to report is the most effective clip mechanism I've ever used, and improves the already impressive design offered on the Megahalems and Armageddon, offers up to 70 pounds of contact pressure while completely removing the chance of processor movement or sliding.

Matching the original Megahalems where it counts most, ProlimaTech has made several extremely subtle changes to the design along with a few obvious additions. For most, the new copper fins will be the most direct difference, but there's more that meets the eye.

Comments

OK, Right now I'm feeling weird about this review. I didn't expect the super-mega to outperform the Megahalems by more than 1-2 degrees, but neither I was expecting to see worst results.If there's a condition where cooper usually shines better than aluminum, that must be at high CFM, but not even with the Scythe's Ultra Kaze fan this new cooler was able to beat the "single" tower king. I'm glad that I still have the Prolimatech Megashadow, even if I prefer to use the Noctua NH-D14 normally whenever it fits.

I can't really talk about a bad sample or whatever since you tried a 2nd one and you actually re-tested with another writer... Thank you for the review.

Its amazing how much you wanted for this product to be as good as expected, you really gave promilatech a chance and after concluding is not exciting you still can`t seem to full criticize the HSF. I bet you had to to maintain a good relationship with them and keeping your professionalism

I was not pleased that it performed below the original Megahalems, and there was no holding back on that point. But to criticize the Super Mega for being the second-best heatsink didn't make a lot of sense. I had to consider that it still beat out every other cooler we tested, and that's certainly worth a 9/10 rating.

The Super Mega is puzzling: it has the same number of identically-shaped fins as the Megahalems; the heat pipes and base appear visually identical. Placed side by side, the only apparently differences are the copper fins in the Super Mega and the chromed top fin. The mounting mechanism is slightly different, as Olin noted in the article, but both mechanisms are extremely robust and provide excellent clamping pressure. Prolimatech didn't say, specifically, what changes they made to improve performance (other than the copper fins), but it seems as if the original Megahalems is still the best modern technology can do in a product of this type, given the space constraints a CPU cooler must live within.

I would like to know was there any temp difference between the 2 Super Mega Heatsinks?Did the temps get better or worse after sanding down the copper fins?What thermal paste was used in both test?Have you tried testing the 2 heatsinks on an open test system?Thanks

There was a temperature difference, see the results. The original Megahalems was always cooler. Only a fraction of a millimeter of material was removed from the fins, not enough to affect the cooler's performance. I used "M&G Chemicals Non Silicone Heat Transfer Compound" in my testing; dunno what Olin used, but note that each of us tested both heat sinks with the same compound (i.e. I used my compound for both sinks, and Olin used his), so while our results can't be compared against each other (we used different test systems, after all), they're internally consistent. We don't normally test heat sinks in open systems because they're rarely used that way in the real world.

Thanks for answering my questions. It was a good article, I'm sure ProlimaTech had to do more testing than that. Anyways I wanted to say I bought the Thermaltake Frio, Mugen 2 and gelid xtreme based on this sites reviews. Keep up the good work. Just thought of this it would be awesome for you guys to do a cooling per $ like you guys do the fps for $

The only thing I can criticize this review for is that Prolimatech's specs say they used 140mm fans, while you're testing used 120mm fans. Although I am not an expert, I do believe that a 140mm fan is going to place its fastest moving air in different locations compared to a 120mm fan.

If you could find it in your schedule to do *just one more* test using some 140mm fans I would love to see the results, whether they back up the current ones, or whether it might actually change something. I am just very curious about it!

When I have the chance, I'll test both heatsinks again with 140mm fans. I honestly think it will be equivalent to the Noctua push/pull set, since 140mm fans are generally used to lower noise levels. We'll soon know if that copper helps with 140mm fans or not...

This article has been updated to include test results with a pair of Xigmatek 140mm cooling fans in a push/pull configuration. The update is located in 'Part 1' of this review. If you're wondering why I used these fans, it's because ProlimaTech sent them with the Armageddon.

When I reviewed 65 fans in 112 setups on the Megahalems (OCN) I included some 140mm fans. A single Kaze Maru 2 1700 rpm did a fine job of cooling, and it wasn't very loud. I was thinking of ordering an Armageddon crossbar and screws so I could better fit 140mm fans to the Megahalems when the Super Mega appeared. I believe 140mm fans will do well on the Megahalems with this crossbar.

I agree with Mr. Worthington and BruceBruce. Those lateral copper fins may make their difference with 140mm fans. I look forward to the extension of your review with 140mm fans.

I read your 65 fan comparison and I loved it. But, do you really think that 140mm should be able to do the difference? I mean, there were some cases were the Megahalems beated the Super-Mega by more than 1 degree. I don't know... but at least, it could pair things a little more.

Regardless of the fan used this heatsink should beat the Megahalems at least in one situation. It would've nice to see what kind of mounts were you getting by analyzing the paste imprint on both coolers.

The only logical explanation I can come up with is that your Megahalems has a base that works great with your un-lapped cpu while the Supermegas are worse.

Prolimatech is very specific about lapping on their web site: "Prolimatech does not condone any type of lapping done to the CPU or to heatsink base. Every Prolimatech's heatsink base is designed on a pin-point scale of how the base is to be flat and/or curved where it's needed to be. We have programed our machines to machine the surface in a very calculated way. Any after-manufacture lapping or modding done to the base will alter the design, hence negating its performance factor as well as its warranty."

I can appreciate your concern, but have no doubts that I've been doing this long enough to understand the importance of contact pressure and mating surface conditions. I've written a few articles about each (which were forwarded to you), and I kept a close watch for inconsistent mounting contact. Both appeared identical, and both were consistent. Additionally, ProlimaTech has maintained that the base design is the same for both (all) models.

The only other thing I could think of that might have influenced your test results (apart from the fans mentioned) was orientation of the hsf setup. You mentioned in your opening that the megahalems showed a 3 degree preference for mounting horizontally vs vertically (for the heat-pipes). If the materials used in the heat-pipes has changed in the refresh of this cooler, then perhaps this would also have an impact on the result. I realise though that testing every cooler in every combination is not possible, and also that the result might be worse if the heat-pipe construction has not changed, but ths was the only ohter thing that came to mind.